y her slowness in her
other studies; in fact her new accomplishment was such a delight to
her, that in her devotion to it she became less and less interested in
her books; and as for dress--that it should be clean and suited both
to her means and to the work she was doing, was all that concerned
her, then or since!

At the end of her first year in school, Rosa obtained her father's
permission to give up her other studies and to enter his studio as
pupil and assistant. From that time, though as yet she had not found
the reason of her vocation, yet her true life had begun. She worked
diligently under the direction of a master she loved, and her father,
in his turn, delighted at the discovery of a talent so long hid,
redoubled his efforts to advance his pupil and to make up for lost
time.

Rosa worked for some months at copying in the Louvre, but though she
worked with such diligence and skill as to win the praise of the
director, she came, after a time, to feel that the mere copying of the
works of other men, however great, was not the goal she was striving
after; so one day she took a sudden determination, left the Louvre,
packed up her painting materials, and started off for one of the rural
suburbs of Paris, where she sat herself down to sketch from nature.
Her love of animals, hitherto an aimless pleasure, now took on a new
phase as she saw her beloved cows and sheep in their place in nature
giving life and animation to the landscape.

In the winter season, when work out-of-doors was no longer pleasant or
profitable, Rosa made what use she could of the few opportunities
Paris had to offer for the study of animals. She spent what time she
could spare from work at the horse-market; she visited the
slaughter-houses, and the suburban fairs where cattle and horses,
sheep and pigs compete for prizes, and in these places she filled her
portfolios with sketches.

In 1840 she sent her first picture to the Salon, and as it was
accepted and well received, she continued to send her work every year;
but, up to 1849, her pictures were small, and had little more interest
than belongs to simple studies from nature; 1849 was a memorable year
to her, as it was to France. In this year her father died of cholera,
just as he had been appointed director of the School of Design for
Young Girls. Rosa was appointed to succeed him with the title of
Honorary Directress, and her sister Juliette was made a teacher in the
school. In the same